General News of Tuesday, 11 May 2021

Source: peacefmonline.com

#Fixthecountry: We must fix our 'deformed' and 'faulty' constitution first - PPP Chairman

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Nana Ofori Owusu play videoPresident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Nana Ofori Owusu

As the nation is in the era of ''fix it'', PPP National Chairman, Nana Ofori Owusu says the Akufo-Addo government must fix the constitution before it can succeed in fixing the country.

The citizenry, particularly the youth, have risen against the government over what they say is bad decisions and poor governance by the President.

#Fixthecountry is currently the trending message to the government and social media has been buzzing with this hashtag as the youth embark on virtual protest after the Police stopped them from embarking on a protest march on Sunday, May 9.

#Fixthecountry is used to tell the government to up its performance and adopt the right measures to improve the lives of the citizenry.

Wading into the "fix the country" campaign, Nana Ofori Owusu believed the country can never be fixed until the constitution is first dealt with.

He argued that, "the constitution that governs us as a nation needs reform. The power of the executive is too much. We need the Legislature and the Judiciary to also be as strong as the executive . . . in fixing the country, we must fix our constitution which is the blueprint of our development because the people are asking for development".

He also stressed that the constitution was made to appease a former dictator of the country which means "you can't move on as a people when you have not fixed the foundation of the constitution that gives absolute power to the executive to be able to move on to appease a former dictator. Those things are fundamental. So, fixing the constitution is part of fixing the country because it's the foundation of the movement of a people to be able for us to get rapid development".

Nana Ofori called on the government to heed his advice because until they do, there will be no progress in Ghana.

"You need a system and a structure that drives development. And there is a faulty constitution that is not helping into driving the development, so we're saying that, in addition, to fix the country, fix the constitution. Fix the constitution because the constitution itself has given us room for why we're having these challenges that we are having today. Tomorrow, we will talk about it . . . The reason why it has been consistent in the Fourth Republic, from 1992 to date, is because the very structure, the foundation of our people, the blueprint for development is deformative. It's deformed," he exclaimed.

He made these comments Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' programme.